`I have quit the show-biz industry. From now onwards, I will not perform in Pakistani and Indian movies and plays,` said the 29-year-old actress who created a storm by posing topless for an Indian magazine.
`I am also going to refuse Indian film producers with whom I had agreed to work in their movies,` she said in an interview to a Pakistani journalist in Saudi Arabia, where she had gone to perform 'Umrah' with her Dubai-based husband Asad Bashir Khan Khattak and his family.
Malik said she would continue to `engage in any project which aims for welfare or social development` but would not be part of any new films.
She said religious scholar Maulana Tariq Jameel had changed her life completely. `Maulana sahib made me promise not to take off my dupatta (head scarf). And I will fulfil this promise for the rest of my life,` she said.
Malik said well-wishers from across the globe, including Indians and Pakistanis, have been congratulating her and Khattak on her decision.
`Like other humans I have also committed mistakes. I have sought forgiveness of my mistakes from God. Now I want to work for the welfare of the people of Pakistan,` she said.
Malik asked people to pray that she would be able to stick to the change in her life. `I have quit showbiz and I want people to pray for me so that I can stick to this change.`
However, a source in the media industry told newsmen that Malik has plans to host a morning show with her husband on a Pakistani news channel.
`Veena is in talks with the management of two news channels for the morning talk show,` the source said. Malik married Pakistani businessman-cum-singer Khattak in Dubai last year.
